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Article published August 27, 2013

Attorney seeks to alter sentence, stay of prison

The Butler attorney who stole more the $544,000 from three clients is asking a judge to reconsider his prison sentence and instead assign him to house arrest.Butler County Judge William Shaffer plans to hear the request made by Samuel Joseph “Joe” Brydon, 58, of Slippery Rock on Friday, which is the same day Brydon is scheduled to report to prison.Brydon, a once prominent attorney who held a quasi-judicial role as the county’s juvenile court master, took money from three estates he had been hired privately to settle in 2007, 2009 and 2010.Brydon pleaded guilty to three counts of felony theft, and on Aug. 19 Shaffer sentenced him serve 9 to 18 months in prison, 15 years of probation and 600 hours of community service.But Brydon’s defense attorney, Michael Jewart of Butler, has filed a request asking Shaffer to switch the jail time to house arrest, saying that Brydon needs to be able to work to earn money to support his wife and to repay what he borrowed from relatives to give to the victims.If Shaffer does not approve Brydon’s request for house arrest, Jewart’s request goes on to alternatively ask the judge to permit Brydon to be eligible for work release while in prison.Since his disbarment, Brydon has worked as a paralegal for attorney Kathryn Linn-Stevenson, who took over Brydon’s practice.